A store, e.g., a Wal-Mart Store, may manage its inventories using certain coding systems, e.g., conventional barcode systems, and point of sale (POS) stations. FIG. 1 illustrates a typical barcode and POS system used in retail stores. In such a system, inventories may be encoded with barcodes and stored in an inventory database 102 at a centralized location, e.g., a headquarter, before or upon their arrival at the store. The database 102 may be connected to a server computer 106 through a first local area network 108 (LAN). The server computer 106 may manage transactions between the inventory database 102 with other functionalities, e.g., a financial/accounting database 104. The LAN 108 in the headquarter may be linked through a wide area network (WAN) 110 to, e.g., a LAN 112 at a store. For a chain of stores, e.g., Wal-Mart Stores, the server computer 106 at the headquarter may be linked to multiple stores. In some situations, the server computer 106 and databases 102, 104 may be located locally at the store.
Within each store, multiple checkout counters or POS stations 114, 116 may be set up at different locations for customers to conduct purchase transactions. These POS stations 114, 116 may be linked through the LAN 112 and WAN 110 to the server computer 106, and databases 102, 104. Additionally, POS stations 114, 116 may be configured with barcode scanners 118, 120, and transaction panels 122, 124. A customer may bring merchandise that he wants to purchase to a POS station for a transaction. The merchandise may have been labeled or attached with barcodes. A cashier may scan each item using barcode scanners 118, 120 to generate a list of pending purchase orders and corresponding prices for the customer. The customer may agree to and complete the purchase by paying with, e.g., cash or a check, or with credit, e.g., using a credit/debit card. Once a product is sold to the customer, the product may be removed from the inventory based on the barcode scan at a checkout counter and the transaction at the POS station. The inventory database 102 and accounting database 104 may then be updated accordingly.
The traditional barcode-based POS system requires the scanning of each item to be purchased by a cashier, which may be time-consuming and require human resources that may be deployed for other purposes, e.g., customer services. Streamlining customer transactions at POS stations may increase customer satisfactions and store efficiencies.
RFID recently emerged as a technology of choice for store inventory management. For example, U.S. patent application, entitled “RFID Promotional Compliance”, filed on even date, by Richard Ulrich (incorporated herein by reference), describes a method of managing promotional merchandise displays using RFID tags. In such a system, RFID tags may be placed on products for uniquely identifying individual products in an RFID inventory database.